The Global Economy: 10 Astounding Infographics Comparing Money Matters Around the World

It goes without the saying that comparing wealth and spending in different countries is almost impossible: people work, earn and even spend differently – moreover, their ways of life and views can be too different to compare.

However, we still try to compare because people move around the world and they want to know what they can expect in different corners of the globe.

Here are the 10 greatest examples of information graphics comparing money, spending and earning around the world:

1. U.S. Education vs. The World

U.S. Education vs. The World is a great informational graphic by MAT@USC that compares the United States education spend and performance versus eleven countries of the world. I love the smart use of a venn diagram that lets you see the differences between different countries at a glance. The colorful design here is a great example of how boring data can look fun when visualized.

The most interesting finding of the stats research and the visualization:

The U.S. is the clear leader in total annual spending, but ranks 9th in Science performance and 10th in Math.

Note: It is unclear what was the measure used to compare the countries in their math and science performance.

2. Most Expensive Cities of the World

Most Expensive Cities is the World is an interesting visualization by Home Loan Finder. The mot interesting part of the infographic is the comparison chart that lets you quickly compare the cost of living. The table works great as it picks very familiar things that are easy to recognize (like monthly rate and fast food).

The most interesting finding of the stats research and the visualization:

Based on the labor-cost-versus-pricing rate, Zurich seems to be the best place to live in.

Note: All the prices in different cities are estimated in USD.

3. Labor Cost in Different Countries

Labor Cost around the World is an ingenious and somewhat minimalistic visualization of how much labor costs in different countries. It also uses U.S. labor cost as the basis to compare all other countries against it. The visualization works particularly well due to the dark background color.

The most interesting finding of the stats research and the visualization:

To earn as much as an average American earns per year, an Indian has to work more than 24 years.

Note: “Minimum wage” here is the relationship of the countries’ currencies to the US dollar while it is correct to state that the true minimum wage has to do with what can be purchased by a person’s own currency within each specific country.

4. People’s Spending Around The World

What Your Global Neighbors Are Buying is a tree- and a pseudo-map visualization from The New York Times. The graphic visualizes how buyers all over the world spend their money. Boxes stand for different countries while the color and size represent the actual spending (2007). The map is interactive: you can roll over each box to see the actual number.

The most interesting finding of the stats research and the visualization:

Recreation is the most popular way to spend money – and it is true for most countries of the world.

Note: It would be great if the infographic also reflected gender differences. This article on Gender and Money via Rather Be Shopping offers a nice summary of how men and women spend money and shop differently. I wonder if these differences are true for all other cultures as well.

5. Life Expectancy & Retirement Years

The most interesting findings of the stats research and the visualization:

In Mexico men tend to work up to the last year of their lives whereas women in Austria spend an average of 26 years in retirement.

Note: People who reach the retirement age are likely to live longer than the estimated life expectancy (The older you get, the longer your life expectancy because you already have avoided dying younger. ). This means that the time spent in retirement is generally longer than what this chart shows.

7. Public vs Private Healthcare Spending Around the World

The most interesting findings of the stats research and the visualization:

700, 000 of Americans are forced into bankruptcy because of medical bills every year.

Note: What these figures donâ€™t take into account is that in the other featured countries of the world (apart from the USA), much of the medical schooling is paid for by the government whereas in United States most doctors finish their training with huge student loans – this largely affects the healthcare cost here as well.

8. United States vs. World Gas Prices

Are you also affected by the rumor that gas prices are the highest in the United States? This map infographic by Flowing Data will be a relief. Countries colored red typically have higher prices, while those colored green typically have lower prices.

The most interesting findings of the stats research and the visualization:

The gas discrepancy is enormous. Some countries, like UK, pay up to $9 per gallon, while others, like Venezuela, have incredibly low gas prices at 9 cents per gallon.

Note: The infographic is based on Wikipedia data and Wikipedia doesn’t have data for all countries, unfortunately.

9. Struggling Countries Around the World

This large infographic sums up enormous amount of information from the map overlay of the countries that donate most to developing countries to top recipients of gross ODA.

The most interesting findings of the stats research and the visualization:

According to Harperâ€™s Index, two-fifths of the worldâ€™s total population is living in a â€œseverely water-stressed environment.â€

Ann Smarty is a search marketer and blogger. She is the owner of MyBlogGuest.com, the large and free platform for bloggers to exchange high-quality guest posts. Feel free join My Blog Guest and check out our most popular feature: the Articles Gallery.